Wednesday, July 20, 2011

I was doing some research on shrimp toast for an upcoming video, and I became obsessed with the thought of frying things on white bread, which led to being obsessed with the thought of frying things in white bread. These fried peanut butter and jelly pinchy pies are the result.

The technique was ridiculously easy, but naming these delicious discs was another thing altogether. They aren't cakes, donuts, or fritters; so I was sort of stumped on what to call them. I decided to make up something completely new (or at least Google says so), and the pinchy pie was born.

As I mention in the video, the possibilities are endless as far as stuffings go, so I can see this really catching on. I think I'm actually going to trademark the name, and maybe hit the state fair tour. These would totally fly out of any Ferris wheel-adjacent food stand.

Regarding the title: While frying stuffed Wonder Bread is about as stereotypically "white trash" as it gets, I don't like or condone the use of that term. I only used it here because I couldn't think of anything as clever. Enjoy!

65 comments:

The State Fair is in Sacramento this time of year, and we're heading there Thursday with the grandkids. Maybe I should fill them up on Pinchy Pies before we leave. That way they get their fill of carnival food for pennies on the "Grandpa's" dollar.

chef i just made this like in this very moment as soon as i saw the video and they're delicious!i must admit i had a bit of a problem with minemy bread was umm thristy?i had a pan full of oil and after two of this delicious pies all the oil was gone! either way they were awesome, but is there a secret for my bread not to suck up that much oil?

These were called Mountain Pies when I was a kid. Like Jesse, we cooked them in a cast iron clam shell contraption over an open fire. We filled them with everything from fresh blackberries we had picked earlier in the day to tomato sauce and cheese! YUM!

Saw this recipe yesterday and wanted to try it really bad. Well, last night I made wontons; pork and spices in the food processor, egg and wrappers...ugh. After about 2 dozen the excitement id over and I don't want to make any more wontons. I only want to eat them. As a result I had leftover pork mixture. I decided to make a chinese pork pinchy pie. My friend, you have stumbled onto greatness. The possibilities are endless. Savory. Sweet. Nutella. Cheeses. I can hear my doctor yelling at me already.

So how bad can peanut butter, jelly, white bread and deep frying? These are just wonderful. I made 10 of them and they were gone in a flash. So I had a few banana's and tried peanut butter and banana's. Oh my it was like eating a little piece of heaven.Thank You Chef!!!

Pssst...John, take a leaf from the book of the Uncrustable. These things will last in lunches about 10,000 times better if you put peanut butter on BOTH pieces of bread, then jelly in between. It'll keep the donut bread from getting soggy.

First try was with too old potato white bread so it flattened but didn't "pinchy". I also did not have regular PB so I used the "Bee's Knees" pb from Peanut Butter & Co. that has honey already in. For jelly I used Olallieberry from CMB Sweets. I ended up frying/sautéing/grilling them in butter as one would a grilled cheese.

I have to tell you. It was insane. INSANE. My SO had lost his job and I was sicker than sick and these perked us right up. Until we went into a food coma. Just one ~3" round crispy warm gooey not-pinchy pie was enough for each of us.

Magical. Truly magical. This next go-round I'm using Justin's Cocoa Almond butter (better than Nutella!) and bananas. I will also grill them in butter. None of that pansy (j/k) veg oil for us!!

(btw just using brand names because they're odd ingredients, not because I get them or am employed by them. Though I wouldn't mind free PB...)

Dear Chef John,Well, I hope you're happy!! I just made these for my grandsons--2 1/2 and 6. They LOVE them! If their mother ever finds out, I'm dead :-)! Please have the decency to come to my funeral!JackieMy husband likes them, too. He also liked the one with cheese that I made for him.

My family also use to use the cast iron clam shells in a camp fire using this recipe and we called the "hobo pies". We filled them with canned fruit pie fillings such as apple and cherry. They are just as fantastic fried in oil on the stove!

OMG! These would make awesome grilled cheese with jalapeno peppers! The only time of the year I eat white bread iis the end of summer for homegrown tomato sandwiches with mayo..(White Trash cooking at its best!) ..but I found a new way to use it after the tomatoes are done!

Please, Chef John, what can one do to avoid the bread from soaking up all the oil in the pan? It just seems so unhealthy digesting all that grease. Your video didn't show that happening. Please respond. Thanks.

In Taiwan/Japan, we actually have these kind of sandwiches and the mold to make it. (Not the fungi mold *sound effect*. Love that one!!!) I think it's 'cuz some people don't like the crust... In convenience stores, we have Peanut Butter/Tuna Salad/other flavor Pinchy Sandwiches!!!

The frying technique also looks a lot like what we call "fried ice cream sandwich." Imagine my surprise when I saw this video!!! Cool coincidences!

(Found a picture online! One with taro ice cream!!!)http://blog.roodo.com/tieny/17050f16.jpg

I tried this with a few changes. I put bacon bits and cream cheese inside of mine. Dipped into a beaten egg and fried like french toast. A bit of powdered sugar and syrup made for a very great breakfast. Thanks for showing this technique

I tried this with a few changes. I put bacon bits and cream cheese inside of mine. Then dipped the whole thing in egg and pan fried it like french toast. With a little powdered sugar and syrup on top it made for a really amazing breakfast treat. Thanks for the technique.